Menu Plan Monday

So many of my bloggy "friends"/acquaintances are doing pantry clean outs right now.  So I decided to join in last week and am continuing on this week.  This last weekend I went grocery shopping and spent 1/2 of my budget for 2 weeks worth of food!  I'm gonna have to save some of it, though.  I unfortunately missed our local meat sale and so I'll have to pony up a bit more for things like ground beef in the coming weeks/months.

Here's the plan for this week...

Breakfasts
mini quiche
breakfast cookies
baked oatmeal
yogurt with fruit
peanut butter banana smoothies

Lunch
leftovers
quesadillas/roll-ups with lunchmeat and cheese; fruit
hot dogs; chips; fruit/veggie

Snacks
hummus with veggie chips
fruit smoothies
granola bars (used only 1 T coconut oil and added in sunflower seeds)
healthier rice crispy treats
chex mix
protein bars
lara bars

Dinners
baked potato with brocolli cheese sauce; salad
cheeseburgers (w/o buns); corn on the cob; cheesy peas
potato-corn chowder; salad
oatmeal pancakes; sausage patties; eggs
cheese taquitos; seasoned black beans; mexican rice
chicken and rice; salad
mexican beef and bean casserole (already prepared and in the freezer); salad/fruit

The last two nights I've been able to take some extra time and put a few meals up in the freezer for next week.  I was also able, last weekend, to get some of our snacks made and put in the fridge.  I made granola bars, rice crispy treats, and chex mix (though we will need more chex mix).  So nice to have a quick snack to grab that is diet friends, with little to no extra sugar, and I made sure they were all sources of complete proteins :)

Better late than never!

So my menu plan is officially two days late.  Not the worst I've done on here :)  Here it goes...

Monday - we had various leftovers

Tuesday - Beefy Enchilada Bake (it was yummy...but I think I'd just assume make enchiladas and it would take about the same time...and I'd use this enchilada sauce recipe if I'd had more time)

Wednesday - Potato Corn Chowder (becoming my favorite recipe!)

Thursday - Taco Casserole (might end up just being tacos)

Friday - Boston Chicken with mashed potatoes and cheesy peas

Saturday - Cheeseburger Soup (I substitute a GF flour blend/arrowroot powder for the flour)

Sunday - Three Cheese Chicken Enchiladas

Breakfasts:
- muffins (planning to use peaches or bluberries)
- breakfast cookies (substituting a GF flour blend that includes xanthan gum for the regular flour)
- smoothies (peanut butter banana smoothie recipe coming tomorrow)
- grits with cinnamon apples

Lunch:
- leftovers
- mexican casserole
- bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, fruit
- corn dog muffins (experiment)

Posted as part of Menu Plan Monday at OrgJunkie.com.

Back on Track

Last week was C-R-A-Z-Y!  VBS all week had me getting the kids up, fed, and out of the house by 8:15, returning home around 1:00, and then nap time.  I haven't consistently been out of the house like that since I was working (December 2009).  Yikes!  We had a great week at VBS, despite the crazy schedule and I have to admit that I miss my pre-k kids :).

Onward and upward!  Because of the crazy schedule last week we had a LOT of baked potatoes...3-4 nights if I remember correctly.  Not ideal, but it was fast, gluten free, and fairly healthy.  Now we're getting back the swing of things.  Need to get my house clean this week, caught up on laundry, and cooking dinner (and breakfast and lunch) again.  This week is a lot of recipes I'm familiar with and are relatively easy to prepare.  Here you go...

Breakfast:
Mini Crust-less Quiche
Grits (with either cinnamon apples or cinnamon-sugar)
Peach Strudel Muffins (I'm using pureed peaches for the fruit)
Giant Breakfast Cookies
Peanut Butter Banana Smoothies (recipe coming tomorrow)

Lunch:
Leftovers
Tostadas with Bean Dip
Bean Dip
Taco Casserole
Cheeseburger Pie

Dinner:
Sun: Tilapia Corn Chowder (this was amazing!)
Mon: One Pot Spaghetti
Tues: Potato Corn Chowder
Wed: Baked Potatoes with Broccoli Cheese Sauce
Thurs: Chicken Taco Tostadas (recipe coming soon)
Fri: Tacos with Mexican Rice
Sat: Baked Chicken and Rice
Sun: Mexican Casserole

This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com.  Please head over and check out all the other wonderful recipes and menus posted to get ideas for your own menu plan!

Baked Potato Soup (crockpot recipe)

I have really come to enjoy soup over the last year or so.  And since my husband works in an air conditioned office, he doesn't mind eating warm soup at night when he gets home :).  I have really come to enjoy soups that can be made using my slow cooker to help free up some time during the day when I know we will have a lot going on.  This is one of those great stand by recipes!

Baked Potato Soup
6 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 large onion, chopped
42 oz (5.25 cups) chicken broth
1/4 c butter
2 1/2 t salt
1 t pepper
1 c milk
1 1/2 c cheddar cheese, shredded
3 T parsley (I usually use dried)
8 oz sour cream
1 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled

1. Combine potatoes, onion, broth, butter, salt, and pepper in slow cooker and cook on low 6 hours (or high approx 3).
2.  Mix/mash potatoes until coarsely chopped.  (This step is optional, I leave it out.  I find that the potatoes are usually falling apart at the end when I stir in the remaining ingredients and we prefer larger chunks of potato in our soup).
3.  Stir in milk, cheese, sour cream, and parsley.
4.  Top each bowl with crumbled bacon (we like quite a bit for flavor, but you could use less).


To make this more frugal:  omit sour cream, bacon, and reduce cheese by 1/2 cup.

I also sometimes add about 1T of sage as I like the flavor it lends to soup.

Menu Plan - Quick and Painless

We have a busy few weeks coming up.  This week is prep week for VBS, which means my friend Michelle and I will be cutting out a lot of cute little things for our VBS class to use next week.  And, obviously, next week is VBS.  I am super excited about working with our kiddos and getting to share with them about Jesus, but I'm not super excited about the daunting task of doing that AND keeping up with my daily household tasks like laundry, cleaning, and cooking.  So I'm planning some relatively easy meals for this week and next that will let me spend lots of time with my family and less time stressing to "catch up".

So here's the plan for this week...

Monday - baked potato soup (in the crockpot) *recipe to be posted tomorrow*

Tuesday - chicken taco tostadas with spanish rice

Wednesday - baked chicken and rice; salad

Thursday - taco casserole

Friday - biscuits and gravy

Saturday - tilapia corn chowder

Sunday - bean dip (making double to share with our Bible study group)

Gluten Free...Week 2

I know I'm a little behind on getting this posted, but life has sprung up in weird ways this week.  Anyway, week one of our gluten free diet went great!  I cooked more last week than I think I ever have in my life.  Almost everything has been made from scratch and it was all pretty wonderful!  Even the things that seemed like flops turned out to be pretty tasty and I'm learning a lot in the process (like my Crockpot gets super hot and doesn't need nearly the whole time to cook chicken...unless of course you want it to be SUPER dry).  So we're heading into week two--though I'm almost positive at this point that we'll be continuing this diet for the long term because of how well Carter's doing.

Anyway, here's the plan for this week.

Breakfast
Mini Crustless Breakfast Quiche
Coconut Flour Muffins with Chocolate Chips/Walnuts
Peanut Butter Oatmeal
Smoothies
Scrambled Eggs with Bacon

Lunch
leftovers
sandwiches; steamed veggies
chicken nuggets; fruit

Dinner
Lemon Chicken; Salad; Brown Rice
Tortilla Soup
Cheesburgers; Oven Fries
Easy Cheeseburger Pie; Salad
Tandoori Chicken with Rice; Salad
Boston Chicken; Quinoa Pilaf
Cheesy Beef and Rice

Menu Planning on a Gluten Free diet

This week is our first week going gluten free, so this menu will be more extensive that what I normally plan.  I will try to link to recipes when possible, but if you want more ideas on gluten free foods I am posting a link to some good recipe sites at the bottom of this post.

Breakfast
Peanut Butter Banana Smoothies
Crustless Mini-Quiche (made mine with turkey ham, hash browns, and cheese)
Coconut Flour Muffins
Overnight Eggs (I make this without the salsa)
Yogurt and Fruit
Baked Oatmeal (using gluten free oats)

Lunch
Leftovers
Sandwich (using this bread) with fruit and string cheese
Chicken Nuggets with veggies and hummus
Spinach Ricotta Bites
Chicken with potatoes/rice

Dinner
Stone Soup
Beans and Rice with Corn Tortillas; Fruit Salad
Baked Chicken; Baked Potato with Broccoli Cheese Sauce
Boston Chicken; Salad; Quinoa Pilaf
Tacos with Spanish Rice
Jerk Chicken; Carrot Salad; Rice
Taco Corn Fritters; Fruit

Snacks
Protein Bar
Peanut Butter Krispie Treats (with gf cereal)
Corn Tortilla Chips with Salsa
Veggies/Crackers and Hummus
Apples/Celery with Peanut Butter
Popcorn
Granola *
Applesauce Fruit Rolls *
Mock-Lara Bars *
Peanut Butter Cookies

* - These recipes came from the ebook, Healthy Snacks to Go, which you can purchase here.

Some great resources for gluten free recipes:
Heavenly Homemakers
Lynn's Kitchen Adventures
Kiki's Kitchen
***EDIT***
Found this blog today and it is WONDERFUL!
Chocolate Covered Katie

This post is part of Menu Plan Monday, hosted by OrgJunkie.com.

Menu Plan Monday - quick fix edition

For those of you who don't know...which is probably most ;)...I am back in college.  I am currently enrolled in a course that meets for several hours two nights a week leaving my husband to get the boys feed and to sleep all by himself...not something I even look forward to, poor guy.  Anyway, to make it easier on him I have planned pretty simple meals for those two nights, please don't think poorly of me for feeding such "junk" to my family...a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do sometimes.

Monday - cheeseburger soup

Tuesday - enchiladas (trying this for the first time, but the recipe can be found here)

Wednesday - pepperoni pizza

Thursday - hamburger helper (we are using the icky store-bough stuff, but there are great recipes out there for more homemade versions....try this one or this one...I haven't tried either but they look yummy!)

Friday - tandoori chicken (new recipe) over brown rice

Saturday - breakfast strata (recipe coming soon)

Sunday - clean our refrigerator night

Menu Planning Monday

Last week went very well!  We were able to share meals with friends on two separate nights while not making much of a change to our actual menu.  The only difference was Friday when we ended up eating dinner at my in-laws house and thus postponing sloppy joes (which we will be enjoying for dinner tonight).

Of the new recipes we had planned to try, here's the verdict...
- Cheeseburger Soup was AMAZING!  I'm not a big fan of soup, but it was really quite wonderful and we had plenty left over for a soup and sandwich lunch the next day.  This will DEFINITELY be made again in our house...probably soon!

- We did decide against the Baked Egg Cups as we ended up with more gravy than we had anticipated.

- Cheesy Chicken Vermicelli was generally well received by my husband, but it made a HUGE amount of food and some ended up in the garbage as we couldn't possibly finish it all for lunches.  I don't know that I would make it again for a regular meal, but it would be wonderful for a church function or other type of potluck meal (not very expensive and makes a lot of food).

Quite a few new recipes in the rotation again this week and I'll be sure to keep you updated on how they turn out!

Monday - Sloppy Joes; au gratin potatoes; salad

Tuesday - Sausage and Pancake Muffins+

Wednesday - Beef Stew

Thursday - Fettuccini Alfredo+ with Chicken and Broccoli

Friday - Cheesy Beef and Rice+

Saturday - Pizza (trying again with this recipe for the dough)

Sunday - Penne with meat sauce; garlic bread; salad

+ A new recipe I'm trying this week.

This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com.  Please head over and check out all the other wonderful recipes and menus posted to get ideas for your own menu plan!